Check rust ratings before choosing wheat varieties

Wheat growers are being urged to look carefully at yellow rust disease resistance scores and examine untreated fungicide trials before making variety choices for this autumn.

Yellow rust problems have escalated this season and the situation is now complex, with new races of the disease developing and some varieties succumbing.

Clare Leaman, cereals specialist at crop consultants Niab, says growers should not be complacent when making variety choices and even those with top disease ratings of 8 or 9 need to be watched closely.

“Some varieties appear to have been affected by new races of yellow rust, so growers should look at disease ratings and at untreated fungicide plots,” she tells Farmers Weekly.

See also: Wheat growers on yellow rust disease alert

Varieties such as Reflection, Britannia and Zulu have seen more yellow rust than expected this season, while others with a modest resistance scores of 6, such as Skyfall and new variety Zyatt, have held up better.

Leaman believes growers will have a good choice of wheat varieties this autumn from a number of new high-yielding, low-risk varieties with quality aspects, such as Siskin, Barrel and Basset.

“We are seeing high-yielding varieties with a wider market appeal,” she says.

Of the newer varieties, feed wheat Graham is the only variety (along with Siskin) to have a 7 rating for septoria, while Costello, another feeder, has good disease resistance and specific weight, Mrs Leaman adds.

Of the candidate varieties coming up for AHDB recommendation later this year, she highlights potential breadmaking variety Zyatt, which has a high yield and high protein content, not far behind Crusoe.

Clare Leaman was speaking at a recent Bayer field day in south Lincolnshire.